Obama weighs action in Iraq, rules out boots on the ground

By ROBERTA RAMPTON and STEVE HOLLANDReutersJune 13. 2014 7:47PMWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said on Friday he needs several days to determine how the United States will help Iraq deal with a militant insurgency, but he ruled out sending U.S. troops back into combat and said any intervention would be contingent on Iraqi leaders becoming more involved.

The Pentagon is preparing a range of options for Obama, including air strikes. The actions are aimed at helping Iraq counter militants in the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, a group Obama described as “vicious” and a “terrorist organization” that could eventually pose a threat to Americans.

Obama said Iraqi leaders needed to set aside sectarian differences to deal with the threat, and said the United States would engage in “intensive diplomacy” in the region to try to prevent the situation from worsening.

“The United States is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they are prepared to work together,” Obama told reporters at the White House.

Obama said he would consult with Congress in coming days. His fellow Democrats are reluctant to allow any engagement in Iraq after the lengthy war, which began with the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple President Saddam Hussein.

But Republicans have been critical of the President for what they say has been dithering on Iraq.

“We shouldn’t have boots on the ground, but we need to be hitting these columns of terrorists marching on Baghdad with drones now,” said California Republican Ed Royce, the chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

The United States stepped up its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support this week at Baghdad’s request, said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby. Some surveillance drones have been collecting data on rebel movements.

“We were surprised and disappointed by the poor performance of some Iraqi security force units (that are) up in the north. I’d be less than honest if I said that that performance instilled a lot of confidence. It didn’t,” he said.

Obama said he was concerned that ISIL could try to overrun Shi’ite sacred sites, creating sectarian conflicts “that could be very hard to stamp out.” The rebels are Sunni Muslims and the Baghdad government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is dominated by Shi’ites.

“This is a regional problem, and it is going to be a long-term problem. And what we’re going to have to do is combine selective actions by our military to make sure that we’re going after terrorists who could harm our personnel overseas or eventually hit the homeland,” Obama said.

Obama said he wanted to review intelligence on the situation in Iraq so that any U.S. actions are “targeted, they are precise, and they are going to have an effect.”

He noted that the U.S. has already “poured a lot of money into these Iraqi security forces.”

Obama was expected to talk to foreign leaders about the situation over the weekend, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with Obama on Air Force One on a previously scheduled trip to North Dakota. Obama was scheduled to spend the weekend in California.

Earnest said the Obama administration had not yet discussed potential interventions with Iran, Iraq’s neighbor to the east and a backer of Maliki.

The United States and Iran, which have feuded since the 1979 Islamic revolution, would appear to have a joint interest in defeating the Sunni Muslim insurgents who have seized large swaths of northwestern Iraq. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran might be willing to cooperate with Washington.

Obama said the insurgency so far had not caused major disruptions to oil supplies from Iraq, but that if insurgents took control of refineries, other oil producers in the Middle East would need to help “pick up the slack.”

“That will be part of the consultations that will be taking place during the course of this week,” Obama said.